trong emphasis on the interpersonal mother-child relationship as contributive to shaping: (1) the offspring's general degree of trait anxiety; and (2) the offspring's sense of self.
Regarding anxiety, Sullivan postulated that anxious mothers communicated their anxiety to their children, thereby raising children who believed that they had reasons to fear a variety of stimuli (both internal and external stimuli). As for the influence of mother-child interpersonal dynamics on the offspring's developing sense of self, Pervin (1980) stated that Harry Stack Sullivan's theory held that:
The self develops out of feelings experienced while in contact with others and from reflected appraisals or perceptions on the part of the child as to how it is valued or appraised by others. Important parts of the self, particularly in relation to the experience of anxiety as opposed to security are the good-me associated with pleasurable experiences, the bad-me associated with pain and threats to security, and the not-me or part of self that is rejected because it is associated with intolerable anxiety. (Pervin, 1980, p.91)
Thus it can be seen that Family Systems Theory and Sullivian Theory provide the conceptual framework for understanding the general mechanics by which all parents contribute to the personality development of their offspring. The question now becomes: How do the specified processes work in terms of producing psychopathological development in offspring, particularly the psychopathological conditions of schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder.
How Mothers' Traits Influence The Psychopathological in Offspring
According to Kohut (1977), psychopathology arises when the parent (most commonly, of course, the mother) utilizes a style of parent-child interpersonal interaction that communicates high levels of anxiety to offspring; in other words, offspring are made to believe that they have many reasons for strong fear. Al...